Monday, July 14, 2008

Wreck This Journal, by Keri Smith. According to the author, "It is about absurdity. A creation. Evidence that you exist. Using materials. Destruction. It is about FUN. Doing the opposite. Breaking the rules. It is about ideas. Getting dirty. Making mistakes. I'm going to ask you to make a mark and it's going to be messy. Don't worry about that. That's the point."

Basically, it's an art journal - a journal that's a combination of writing, scrapbooking, art, and photojournaling. This one, however, has a different twist. Instead of a staring at a blank page in your journal and wondering what to do/write/draw on the page, this book comes with instructions for each page. And most of the instructions have to do with "wrecking" the journal. For example, one page directs you to poke holes in it using a pencil (see below). Another instructs you to tear the page out, crumple it in a ball, and kick it around. It's all about being silly, playing, having fun, and not worrying whether or not you're going to do something wrong and "wreck" your beautiful art journal.

So here's my first page, filled with holes made with colored pencils. Really, it was quite fun poking all those holes. Mark even helped. I'll post more pages as I work through the book. Should be a fun ride!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

I'm taking an online scrapbooking class at Big Picture Scrapbooking, and I wanted to share two of the projects I'm working on. The first is a mini album dedicated to my Grandma Gonzales. It's just a simple book sharing a few of the things that stand out in my mind when I think of her. Here are a few pages:

This next layout was an assignment to complete a layout in 30 minutes or less. This was pretty tough, considering the time frame included selecting the photos and supplies. (One of the objectives of this class is to let go of perfection and have more FUN scrapbooking.)

The photos are of Mark, on our wedding day, where he is posing as if he were climbing/hanging from some palm trees. It's kind of a funny story. And here it is: a few days before our wedding, we had seen some cliff divers diving from cliffs (of course) but then also climbing the trees on the cliff and jumping from even crazier heights. So Mark thought he would simulate the cliff diver's feats, from a safer height, on our wedding day. He almost convinced the photographer that he had actually made the jump from the cliff.

Okay, so it's probably funnier if you were actually there. And drinking rum-based drinks.

Friday, July 4, 2008

Just a quick post to say hello and happy 4th! Enjoy the hot day, the fireworks and family gatherings. I will be at work, in the operating room, taking care of patients who hurt themselves on the aforementioned fireworks!

Also, congratulations to Ashley, who is expecting baby #3 very soon - her first boy! Brooke hosted a shower for Ashley yesterday and it was so nice to see the family.